Richard Stine, USA and New ZealandMember Since September 2006Artist Statement As far back as I can remember I was an artist—at least a little guy who loved to make pictures more than do anything else. I still vividly remember a machine gun I drew when I was four, while WW2 was raging. By the time I was in high school I knew I wanted to be an artist, someone who made art ALL the time. And so I have bumped along, through the highs and lows of life, making art, ever since. As for my art, I have simply followed my interests which are sometimes philosophical, sometimes technological, sometimes about beauty, sometimes about ideas, and sometimes a combination, in varying degrees, of all of the above. Mostly though my art is about the attitudes that make it. Attitudes are the most important thing in art for me. Attitude adjustments either make me freer or close me down, not just as an artist, but as a person to. Attitudes are formed by understanding—The better the understanding, the better the attitude, the better the art. As for accomplishments: I've had lots of gallery shows, college and university shows, museum shows...shows at art fairs, at trade shows,in my house,in my studio,in my friend's houses, in patron's houses, even alone on weekends in front of a hardware store in the town where I lived. I won my first major purchase prize when I was 18 in a national drawing competition: Drawings USA. I've had books, cards,posters and prints published of my work. Basically, I've been making art and living from it for a long time. My first love though has always been to just make art. Looking back now the whole thing seems miraculous.